Short praises Rovers gamble on Stead

Blackburn defender Craig Short lavished praise on his team’s matchwinner Jon Stead – and questioned why more lower-league players were not given their chance to shine in the Barclaycard Premiership.

Stead joined Rovers in the January transfer window from Third Division Huddersfield and has scored some key goals since his arrival at the Lancashire club – none more so than yesterday’s.

His glancing header from Andy Cole’s cross made it five in 10 games for Stead since his £1.25m (€1.8m) switch to Ewood Park, and Short believes it was money well spent by Graeme Souness.

The defender, who played at the lower levels of the game with Scarborough and Notts County, said: “We needed something because we were struggling. People thought it was a gamble [to sign Stead] but it is credit to the gaffer that he went for him.

“It surprises me that more players are not bought from the lower leagues. People think there is too big a gap, but I do not think it is that big. He hasn’t been overawed by everything, he has just taken it in his stride.

“A lot of clubs looked at him and felt it was too big a gamble, too big a jump for him.

“But maybe now they will start looking at a few other players knocking around in the lower divisions because they could make that transition like Jon.

“And from day one we knew he was going to be OK. The goals are a bonus, we did not expect him to even get this many because we felt it was going to need a settling-in period.

“But he hasn’t needed that. I knew virtually nothing about him when he arrived apart from a mate of mine who is a Huddersfield fan who kept talking about the lad.

“The first time I saw him really was playing against him in training and he was a real handful. He’s a good athlete and all he needs is to get stronger physically, and over the last couple of months he has started to show that too.”

Short believes Stead has benefited from being an unknown quantity to Premiership, but is convinced the 21-year-old is too good to be just a half-season wonder in the top flight.

Short added: “The worst things for centre-halves in the top flight is the unknown. You play against the Henrys and Hasselbainks and you at least know what they are about, what their tricks are. I hate playing against people I know nothing about.

“It will get harder for him next year, sure, but he already has little tricks and you say to yourself, ‘he’s just up from the Third Division and he shouldn’t be doing this sort of thing to me’.

“Jon is very quiet, all he keeps asking about is Huddersfield’s results because he still lives there and obviously wants them to do well.

“He has a lot of confidence about him, but no arrogance.

“He couldn’t really, could he? Start saying he’d made it when he was just out of the Third Division? He has got on with it and has shown confidence on the pitch.”

Blackburn celebrated the win they know means survival, although Souness refused to accept that situation until it is mathematically sure “because if I do and it goes wrong I will look a schmuck”.

Poor Everton were just that, though, poor.

The game was played 19 years to the day that Everton reached the European Cup Winners’ Cup final and the old trophy was paraded by Graeme Sharp for delighted fans before the game.

Boss David Moyes had seen enough of Everton’s glorious past already earlier in the week at a gala dinner to honour those 1980s heroes, so seeing how far his current crop are from that wonderful team was something he could have done without.

He said: “The performance was really average and we got what we deserved.

“Our creative players didn’t perform and we did not have any cutting edge. All over the field we were below par.

“Just when you start thinking you are doing OK, football trips you up and hits you where it hurts.

“And it is certainly hurting me. I was proud of our home record and how we have done and we let it slip very easily.

“A few players looked as if the season had become a bit too long for them. But we will need to win at Wolves next week, we need a win to get us over the 40 points.”